Turning back the Clock
by Gwntan12
Summary: After defeating Father, the Truth offers Edward an offer he can't refuse. Rewriting the past, along with the chance of preventing deaths he couldn't in his first time. Now, Ed has to once again deal with the Homunculi, along with aiding his younger self secretly. Will the Fullmetal Alchemist change the future for the better... Or for the worst?
1. Truth's Offer

Edward Elric smirked at the white figure of the being known as Truth sitting cross legged in front of him. Ed knew what he was going to do, and he didn't care if he lost his Alchemy. Sure, Alchemy played a major part in his life, but he could easily get on well enough without it. It would take some time to get used to the loss of his Alchemical abilities, but it was fine by him. After all, Alchemy wasn't as important as his friends and brother were. Besides, It was what had started this whole whooping mess. It would seem right if it had ended with Alchemy. A large grin crossed onto Ed's face.

"Who even needs Alchemy, when I have all my friends?"

The Truth grinned widely, not in the mocking way Edward had expected to see. The Truth actually seemed genuinely happy with his answer.

 **"You've done it!"** The Truth exclaimed, a pleased tone heard faintly in it's normally cruel voice. **"That's the right answer! Good job, you've beat me!"**

Edward smirked triumphly, but the Truth's next words sent his hopes and joys crashing and burning down, hard. **"However, I can't take your Alchemy."**

Ed's jaw fell and hung open in utter disbelief as it felt as if someone had slapped him across the face with a metal gauntlet. What? No... That can't be...

"B-but," Edward stammered, a mix of emotions bubbling up in him. Shock, disbelief, confusion, despair, and finally, a burning rage. "You said I beat you, so why-?!"

The Truth held up a hand to silence him. **"You did indeed beat me, but your Alchemy for your brother isn't equivalent."**

"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT IT ISN'T EQUIVALENT?!" Ed's famously short temper exploded with the same ferocity as a Volcano's as he roared. After all this, Ed still wouldn't be able to get his brother back, and the very thought infuriated him. Damn Truth always had to make things harder for him, one way or another.

 **"It isn't equivalent, but not in the way you think it is. Your Alchemy, is worth far more than your brother."** The Truth didn't seem to be at all phased by Edward's outburst as it explained the circumstances.

"Then take my Alchemy!" Edward repeated, slight desperation leaking into his voice. If the Truth didn't take his Alchemy as a toll, he wouldn't have anything to give up to get his little brother back. What would he do then? How would he be able to fulfill his promise to Winry, that the next time she cries, it would be tears of happiness? "It's still enough, isn't it?"

The Truth grinned, continuing on as if it hadn't heard Edward speak at all. **"No human has ever beaten me for more then a millennium, so I'll tell you what."** The grin stretched across the Truth's face seemed to get wider, if that was even possible at all.

 **"How would you like to go back, right to the beginning, and change it all?"**

Edward froze, unsure if he was actually hearing things correctly, or if he just needed to get his ears checked. Go... Back? Go back in time? Was that what the Truth meant?

"Go back?" Edward repeated his own thoughts . "As in, go back in time?" Time travel should be impossible, not to mention how ridiculous the whole thing sounded. All is one, and one is all. The flow of the universe only goes in one direction, as Ed had learnt the hard way and yet, here the Truth was, going against the very same law.

Honestly, the Truth ought to stick with it's own rules.

 **"Precisely, Edward Elric. Go back in time. I'll admit that this timeline didn't go as well as I had planned, so do me this favour. Rewrite the timeline to get the best ending, and I'll return your brother to you. Simple as that."**

Edward started. There it was, the very thing he wanted all along. The response to the Truth shoukd have been so simple. But why was he hesitating? Why was it so hard to just form such a simple word in his throat?

 **"Oh, and this timeline will cease to exist."** The Truth, noticing the horrified expression that had crossed the blonde's face, cut him off just as he had opened his mouth to vehemently protest.

 **"The people of this timeline will still exist, just in a different timeline. They will be perfectly safe."**

Edward frowned deeply, not entirely convinced as he hesitated.

 **"Didn't you want to save that little girl?"** The Truth grinned once more, playing on Edward's own greatest regrets and sorrows, knowing it had won.

Edward's head snapped up at the reminder of Nina. Yeah... That's right. Nina deserved a chance at life. Hughes didn't deserve to die. And so many others, who had died because of his carelessness. This was a chance to right his wrongs. Ed's eyes hardened in determination.

"I'll do it."

Just as soon as those three words left his mouth, Ed's portal of Truth creaked open omnimously, as the dark tendrils reached out to grab him, pulling him into the dark void of his own gate.

 **"Excellent. You'll be sent to Liore. Have fun, Mr Al-che-mist!"**

"W-wait a second! Which year am I being sent to?!"

The Truth merely grinned. Oh, the Truth couldn't wait to see how this would turn out, be it for the better, or the worse.

 **[A/N Yes, yes, I know I have two other stories that need updating, but this idea has been driving me crazy while I'm trying to study. Notice the word, 'trying'. And well, yeah. I couldn't concentrate until I got this stupid idea out, so please don't kill me.**

 **Well, tell me what you think, and do you guys think I should continue this?**

 **~Gwntan12]**


	2. Arrival and Liore

The next time Ed saw actual light, it was quickly obscured when his face hit dirt. He groaned, his voice muffled by the ground. Would it actually kill the Truth to let him down nicely for once?! The first time he doesn't lose anything when passing through the gate without a toll, the Truth decides to faceplate him into dirt. Great. Must have been part of the toll.

"Ow..." Ed moaned, rubbing the newly formed bump on his head. That hurt. A lot. This little trip through time had better be worth it, because he won't be able to handle much more of the crap the Truth threw at him.

Staggering clumsily to his feet, he immediately noticed the Truth had been so kind as to provide him with clothes, seeing as the ones he had been wearing previously had been torn to hell. The only thing that irked him was that not only did he not have his favourite bright poppy red signature coat, he didn't even have a speck of red on him! He was just simply wearing a brown vest with black slacks, along with a dark brown traveling coat equipped with a hood. Boring. Eh, at least he still had his pocket watch.

Then again, it was probably a good thing that he wasn't dressed like he normally would have been because how would everyone react, knowing that there were probably two Edward Elrics running around. Well, if he was in his own time. And what year did Truth even send him to, anyway? It had better not be the sixteenth century, or someone was definitely going to be on the receiving end of his wrath. Fortunately, he recieved his answer approximately two seconds later.

"SHORTY?! CAN A SHORTY DO THIS?! WHAT ELSE YOU WANNA CALL ME, HALF PINT, BEANSPROUT, MIDGET?! I'M STILL GROWING YOU BACKWATER DESERT IDIOTS!"

That definitely answered his primary concern. Though it was kind of startling for Ed to hear himself screaming his lungs out like that, considering the fact that, well, he wasn't saying doing one of his infamous short rants, as every one of Mustang's team liked to call it.

And damn, he really was loud. Now knowing that, he almost felt bad for the people he had yelled at. Almost.

Peeking around a corner, it was like a blast to the past. Literally, since he actually was in the past. He had heard Liore had major bloodshed caused by the riots, so it was nice seeing Liore in a state of relative peace.

Well, it was nice, until Ed heard the stupid priest Cornello drifting from the radio. If his memory served him right, he had revealed the idiot's plans rather easily. Well technically, it was the priest doing the revealing, since Ed had broadcasted the whole conversation. Oh, that was fun. Ed really did enjoy the Liore incident. Especially when he had transmuted a door out of Cornello's hall and slammed the door into the face of one of the priest's followers and brawled his way out with Alphonse.

Good times, good times.

Going back to the present -Past for Ed-, Ed briefly considered helping his younger self in this before he decided against it. Eh, his younger self can handle this himself. He would know, since he went through this too. He hoped that Rose would be ok after this. She was a total wreck the last time Ed saw her. But then again, he couldn't blame her. Rose's world crashed down along with the revelation that her beloved couldn't come back from the dead, so Ed just gave her a similar advise that he had been given five years ago, when he nearly gave up.

Get up, and keep walking. You've got two strong legs, so get up and use them.

Ed waited until his younger self had left with Alphonse before he drew up his hood and stepped out of the alley he had landed in. He should find a place to hang out before giving his younger self a warning about what was too come. Also, to enjoy the little scheme of his involving broadcasting equipment and a bit of trickery.

Oh, today was going to be a very fun day indeed. Ed began counting down, all the while grinning evilly.

LINE BREAK

It was sometime around late afternoon and early evening, when the anticipated broadcast played. Ed wished he had a bag of corn from his position on a roof.

Ed really was proud of himself. That broadcast never got old. Especially that last bit.

 _"... Who knows, I might even carve out a slice for you, AHAHAHA-!"_

 _"WHAHAHAHA!"_

 _"What's so funny?!"_

 _"I knew it! You really are a novice."_

Oh, that look on Cornello's face was priceless when he finally realized what was going. Ed only wished he could have seen it again, because this time, he would have definitely taken a picture to savor the moment.

 _"WHAT?! When did you get hold of my broadcasting equipment?!"_

 _"From the very beginning. And now your followers have heard everything."_

 _"Why you-!"_

The sound of a machine gun soon followed, before sounds of a transmutation clearly rang out from Alphonse's makeshift speaker.

 _"I've told you before. You're outclassed here."_

 _"Grrr! As long as I have the stone, I can keep on creating miracles over and over again!"_

Ed winced at the memory of what happened next, before he tuned out the sounds of battle and slid off the roof where he had taken up residence for the past two or so hours, landing in a crouch, stretching out his stiff muscles.

"Ok, now that's that." Edward yawned, scratching the back of his neck. "Time to play the cryptic stranger."

Turning, he made his way to the train station to intercept his younger self, who was blissfully unaware of what actions here would lead to. Older Ed would have definitely tried everything in his power to change the events in Liore, but there was no helping it. If Ed did intervene, he was just delaying the inevitable since the Homunculi would just find a different way to carve a crest of blood here. And who knows? There could more casualties this time, something which Ed didn't want. Then again, there might be less casualties. Huh, tough choice.

Picking out his younger self amidst the crowds at the station was fairly easy, considering the fact Alphonse's was too noticeable and tall. And much to Ed's annoyance, he couldn't even see himself.

Ah, damn it. He really was short back then. Ed had never been so glad as to have grown significantly in the past six months. Moving into his younger self's path, he made sure his hood covered his upper face, making him unrecognizable.

"Hey."

Ed's younger self was instantly cautious of him -not that he minded since that was him a year ago- and so was Alphonse, even though he didn't show it.

"What?" Younger Ed snapped, only to have Alphonse admonish him. "Brother! Don't be rude!"

Turning up to face older Ed, Alphonse apologized. "I'm sorry about my big brother."

Ed waved off Al's apology. "It's ok. I've had worst."

Turning back to his younger self, he spoke what he needed to. "Edward." Older Ed watched with some amusement as his younger self started because a supposed stranger knew his name.

"Watch out for those who bear the ouroborous. They are dangerous beings."

Turning to leave, he barely made it three steps before his younger self called out to him. "Who the hell are you?! And what do you mean?!"

Older Ed flashed younger Ed a grin. "You know me better then anyone else. And you'll find what I mean like I did." Before he quickly slipped out of sight, despite his younger self's protests to get back there and explain what the hell he was talking about.

Even though he was trying to keep a low profile, Ed had to admit that messing with his younger self was fun. But that was just an added bonus to this whole business. Ed knew he had to keep under the Homunculi's radar, because them knowing about this whole business could be pretty disasterous.

Edward only got one chance at this. So if he screws this up, he's as good as dead.

LINE BREAK

"What's the matter, brother?" Alphonse's voice brought Ed -the younger one- out of his thoughts as he stared out of the train compartment's window. Al really could read Ed like a book.

"Nothing, Al. I just can't shake the feeling that I knew that guy from somewhere. Not to mention the fact the stone was a fake." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. If there was one thing Edward Elric hated the most, it was not knowing something. And that false lead was a real bummer.

"Maybe you have met him before, brother, but you just forgot." Al voiced his thoughts.

"I don't know about that, Al." Edward closed his eyes, recalling the encounter. "He said I knew him better then anybody else, but I don't even know him at all!"

Al had no response to that, so they just sat in silence.

The scenery outside of the train whizzed by quickly, before they left the desert region. Normally, Ed would have been taking one of his famous naps by then, but his mind was too awake for him to even think about sleeping. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep at all until he managed to figure out what that weird guy was talking about. Something about watching out for the Ouroborous. But the Ouroborous just signified perfection, if Ed's memory served him right. So what does it have to do with anything?

But one thing that was for sure, if Ed ever met that stranger again, he was definitely going to get answers from him, even if he had to beat it out of him!

LINE BREAK

Somewhere on that very train, Edward -Older version- sneezed.

"Aw, damn it! I better not be catching a cold, not when I have things to do!" Ed sniffed, rubbing his nose.

Now, what should he do next in his quest to change the future? After Liore, what did he do?

Edward gave a small gasp, his eyes darkening slightly as he remembered what happened next. He went to the Tucker household to research Bio Alchemy. Shou Tucker. The Life Sewing Alchemist. The main researcher on Chimeras. He got in two years ago by transmuting a chimera that could speak the human tongue. Ed had thought that was great, but now, he felt utterly disgusted and horrified at it's creation. That bastard used his own wife to create the damn thing.

Ed grinded his teeth and clenched his fists at the horrible memories that were beginning to surface once again. Nina... That poor, innocent little girl who only wanted to play. This time, he'd make no mistakes. Nina won't die this time. Not on his watch! That bastard Shou Tucker... He won't succeed this time. He won't succeed in turning his daughter into that, that thing!

Each and everytime Ed closed his eyes, he could still see that creature in his head. The dog like creature. He didn't even know it was Nina and her dog, until she said those words that would forever haunt him in the day and night, as a grim reminder of his failure to save just one little girl, one innocent little girl.

 _"Big brother... Ed."_

Ed squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out that horrible memory, unable to prevent the tears that escaped his eyes. But he quickly wiped them away, before anyone noticed.

 _'I'm sorry, Nina. I'll make it right this time. I promise. You can count on your big brother.'_

Because this time, he'll be able to save her, even if he's not a god. That's the least that he, an insignificant human, can do.

 **[A/N Oh, don't mind me. I've already studied enough for today and I just wanted to get this chapter out.**

 **Thanks for reading and to those who reviewed the last chapter, as well as followed and favourited this, thanks for your support!**

 **Signing out!**

 **~ Gwntan12]  
**


	3. Nina

Edward's head jerked up as the train came to a screeching halt at his destination. East City. "Woah, that was faster than usual." He mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Checking out through the window, it was pretty easy to see what time of the day it was. Early-coming-to-late morning, probably about nine.

"Ooh, this brings back such _wonderful_ memories." Ed sarcastically muttered under his breath as he hopped off the train, kicking up dirt. Who was he kidding? This East City dust ball was hardly a good memory, because to put it very mildly, it sucked. Each and every time he came by to give reports to Colonel Sarcasm, he always left covered in dust -except for that one time it was raining, but that made his automail ports ache-, and with a few extra pebbles stuck in his shoes. He hadn't been so grateful to have an automail foot to ease his suffering.

Also, there was that Chimera incident and that time he left with an automail arm in a million pieces, and Alphonse's armour partially deconstructed, courtesy of Scar. Boy, was Winry ever pissed. Ed's head still hurt just thinking about it.

Speaking of Winry, she was definately going to kill him the next time he saw her because he wrecked his automail arm, aka her 'baby', in that last fight with Father.

Just then, a horrible thought occurred to Ed while he was busy having day nightmares about wrenches.

If he had defeated Father -after a lot of agony-, and he just got sent back to the past, doesn't that mean he'll have to fight Father _again_?! Aw man, all his hard work, down the drain!

"Noooooo...!" Ed whined pathetically, sulking in a corner, which attracted a bunch of strange looks directed pointedly at him. For a genius like him who knew the Homunculi were still around in this time period, he sure caught on slowly about what going back in time meant. Dead friends would still be alive, but so will dead enemies.

Couldn't it just have been the former?

Edward remained in his depressing corner of gloom for a few more minutes before he slowly got up and dusted himself off, sighing dramatically at the newest -and worst- revelation he had.

Eh, no point whining about that now. He'll just have to kick Father's behind again, like he did about forty eight or so hours ago. And damn, that really felt good, beating the crap out of Father.

But then comes the more pressing issue. The seven Homunculi, how was he going to get rid of them? In the original timeline, they were all eventually killed off, with the sole exception of Pride. But with Ed's messing around, they might not even be defeated.

Crap. What should he do?

Well, he could just leave some the events as they should be, like in Liore, and he could change the events that got people killed, like how he was planning to do for Nina and Hughes. Also, should he prevent himself from finding out about the Philosopher's Stone?

Ed paused, debating on that idea before he threw it out of the window. Nah, his younger self needs to know that bit of information, the Truth about the Philosopher's Stone.

Ed contemplated on a few other ideas, before he finally made up his mind on what to do. He wouldn't necessarily intervene with the events unless he really needed to, but he would just play the cryptic stranger and give subtle hints.

Ed rubbed his hands together and chuckled in his normal 'evil Ed's' laugh. Oh, the Homunculi won't know what hit them. But, before that, first things first. He had a little girl to save.

LINE BREAK

"... And so, Colonel Bastard, you owe me for this." Ed -Younger. Do I still need to say it?- grinned smugly at his womanizing, lazy excuse of a superior officer sitting comfortably at his desk.

Mustang's eye twitched as he fought to keep his calm composure, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face. "Hearing you say that is unsettling, Fullmetal. And since I don't like owing you, what do you need?"

"Is there anyone who spealizes in Bio Alchemy nearby?" Ed got straight to the point, seeing no need to continue with pleasantries, and besides, when had he ever beaten around the bush? Answer? Never, unless he was trying to distract someone, but that was mostly Alphonse's job. "I want to research that kind of Alchemy to see if me and Al can find any leads on getting our bodies back."

"I believe there is one such specialist." Mustang got up from his desk and pulled out a file from one of his numerous records on one of the shelves that decorated his office walls. "Shou Tucker, the Life Sewing Alchemist. He specializes in Chimeras and attained his certification two years ago when he succeeded in transmuting a talking chimera."

Ed's eyes widened to almost comical proportions. "You mean he actually managed to transmute one that talks? That's amazing!"

"Well, it was. I wasn't in charge two years ago, so I've never actually seen it. But from what I heard, the only thing it said was, "I want to die." Then it refused to eat anything and died shortly after." Mustang finished..

Ed paused, considering whether or not he should consult this specialist. "Alright, we'll see this guy."

The first few days went as they should have, but just before that day in which Ed was supposed to find out about the horrific actions of Tucker, everything diverged from there.

LINE BREAK

Night crept upon East City and it's inhabitants, lulling a good number of it's population to a night of blissful sleep.

However, of the small percentage who remained awake, one such individual was silently making his way to the Tucker household, his footsteps barely making noise. Four days, he recalled. Four days before Nina and her dog Alexander became the result of a horrific transmutation. He went to Tucker's house for that same number of days to keep an eye on the inhabitants, nearly being spotted by his younger self several times. Honestly, Ed didn't know whether or not he should applaud himself, or just groan in frustration. It was so damn hard to hide each and every time!

And now, on the fourth night, he had to act quickly, and get Nina away from her father swiftly. Tucker was going to 'play' with her the next day, something which Ed had to prevent at all costs. He didn't need another person to die because of his failure to notice the signs.

The lights were out by the time he got there, which meant he could easily sneak in without Tucker's knowledge. Good. There was no need for a confrontation then, which probably would spare Nina's mind since Ed was more than happy to beat the living daylights out of Tucker like he had the last time.

It was easy scaling up the wall of the large estate to Nina room, where he rapped against the glass of the window sharply, rousing the small, sleepy girl, who instantly brightened up when she saw Edward, who had let down his hood so that Nina would have a familiar face to be around for the time being.

"Big brother Ed!" Nina cheered as she stood on tip toes to unlock her window. "What are you doing here?"

Ed didn't know whether or not he should cry. This innocent light, snuffed out just because her bastard of a father decided it was a good idea to transmute her into a chimera.

"Big brother?" Nina asked hesitantly, seeing the lack of response from Ed. "What's wrong? Did I do something bad?"

"N- no, Nina." Ed smiled softly at her, fighting to keep his voice from cracking. She really was too innocent for any of the horrors she was forced to go through.

"Hey, Nina, would you like to come and play?"

"Really?!" Nina's eyes sparkled, before she seemingly wilted before Ed's eyes, her large eyes watering. "But daddy said he was going to play with me..."

Ed gritted his teeth, the sad tone in Nina's voice hitting a soft spot. But there was no other choice. He wouldn't let her die again.

"Don't worry Nina. Your daddy is going to play with you some other time." Ed lied through his clenched teeth as he climbed into her room, landing with a soft thump and unintentionally rousing a sleeping Alexander.

Ed didn't give the large dog much thought at first, seeing how fond it was of him back in the original timeline, if the pouncing and licks -Man, it took him forever to get the dog spit out of his hair!- weren't any clue. Which was why Ed was completely unprepared when Alexander growled hostilely at him, causing him to take a step back cautiously.

"No, Alexander! Bad! Don't growl at big brother Ed!" Nina cried, trying to calm the large mammal, but to no avail. Ed cursed under his breath. Alexander really was one smart dog, being able to tell he wasn't the same Ed that visited.

"Shit!" Ed cursed as Alexander barked at him, loudly. Sending weary glances at Nina's room door, he quickly gestured for Nina to climb on his back. "C'mon Nina!"

Just as Ed had lifted up Nina in a piggy bag, the door clicked open slowly, revealing Shou Tucker, who blinked in surprise at Edward. Ed swore violently in his mind. One of times he didn't need something to go wrong-! "Edward, what are you doing here at this unearthly hour?"

Ed narrowed eyes at Tucker until his eyes were almost slits. He had never hated someone with every fibre of his being before Tucker. "Stopping you from turning her into a chimera!"

Tucker started, shocked that Ed would know of his inhumane plans for his daughter, before his eyes turned stone cold. "I see, you do know."

Tucker took a threatening step forward, and in response, Ed took a step back, with Nina witnessing everything with large, frightened eyes. "Edward, give me my daughter."

"Like hell!" Ed spat, nearly shaking with the hate and rage he felt for the man. "I'm not about to let you do that to her!"

"It's for the sake of science's advancements! Surely a scientist like you would understand!" Tucker reasoned, the look of a true madman appearing in his eyes, exposing him for what he truly was.

He was right next to the window now, his hand reaching out blindly for the window sill as Nina whimpered softly. Ed's eyes darted to the side briefly, but that was all it took for Tucker to realize his intention.

"You won't get away!" Reaching into his pocket, Tucker drew out a-

 _OHMYTRUTHWASTHATAGUN?!_

With no time to spare, Ed tightened his hold on Nina and barreled out of the window, a gunshot ringing out just above his head.

Landing with as much grace as an elephant -his excuse was tht he hadn't the time to land properly-, Ed groaned at his misfortune. A gun. Really? Why? Just, why? Honestly, he wouldn't be suprised if he really was cursed. If being extremely knowledgable with the ability to use clap Alchemy by meeting the Truth came with being cursed like this, he didn't need the knowledge, thank you very much. His life was exciting enough, Ed sarcastically rolled his eyes. Yeah, exciting his foot. More like terrifying.

"Big brother," Nina whimpered, burying her face into his back. "What's wrong with daddy? Why's he scary?"

Another gunshot rang out, this time hitting the ground mere inches from Ed, who unintentionally gave a small scream. Well, it was a good thing the only witness was Nina, because if it had been Colonel Bastard...

Ed fought the images of mockery and taunts down. Now was really not the time!

Adjusting his hold on Nina, he darted around a building, just as another shot rang out, slamming into the concrete war with a sharp crack.

"You won't escape me!" Ed heard Tucker laugh. "I will do it! It's for the sake of science!"

Ed gritted his teeth in frustration as sweat poured down his face. Damn it, why didn't he check if Tucker kept firearms in his house?! He should have least expected it, seeing as how Tucker was technically military personnel.

So, now what?! Ok, it's good that he probably saved Nina from being turned into a chimera, but now, he was dealing with the risk of being filled with lead. Well, at least he did get some practice in dodging bullets, thanks to Hawkeye, so it couldn't be too bad, right?

Hawkeye was a skilled, long range sniper, while Tucker probably never handled a gun to often. So basically, his odds were slightly higher.

But then again, Hawkeye wasn't trying to kill him and Tucker is trying to possibly murder him.

The sound of feet pounding against the pavement was enough to make Ed start running again.

"Give her to me!"

"Daddy! You're scaring me!" Nina cried, hugging Ed tighter in fright. "Make him stop, big brother! Make him stop!"

"I'm sorry, Nina!" Ed rounded another corner, only to freeze dead in his tracks, dread settling at the bottom of his stomach. Oh dear, not again.

"You?!"

"The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric." Scar murmured, bringing up his right hand, the one that deconstructs. "Alchemists who stray from the path of god, shall be punished."

Yup, Ed was definately cursed.

"Shit!" Ed yelped as he narrowly dodged Scar's hand after he lunged at him, before turning tail and going in the opposite direction, only to remember Shou Tucker was running from that direction.

"Oh boy..." Ed groaned. "This is definately not my day."

Darting a different way, he could clearly hear the exchange between Tucker and Scar.

"The Sewing Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker."

"So what if I am? I'll kill you if you stand in my way!"

"Alchemists like you who create, shall be destroyed!"

Ed spared a glance behind him, and almost wished he hadn't. Blood exploded from Tucker's head in copious amounts, painting the sidewalk with a crimson hue as Tucker collapsed to the floor, his blank eyes staring and his jaw slack, in the middle of a gasp of fear and shock.

"Daddy?" Nina whimpered as she turned around to look.

"Don't look!" Ed gasped, fighting down the urge to empty the contents of his stomach at the side of the road.

Nina's head snapped back to the front, alarmed by the tone of Ed's voice. "Big brother, what happened to daddy?"

"Nina, I'll tell you later, but I need you to listen to me!" Ed said desperately, the pounding of feet behind him seemingly getting louder. "You have to get to Mr Hughes's house if something happens to me! You know who Mr Hughes is, right?"

"But-!"

"Promise me Nina!"

"O-ok, big brother, but I want you to follow me! It's scary out here!" Nina wailed.

"I'll try!"

Rounding yet another corner, Ed found that he was at the warehouse yard. Dozens of warehouses filled the large stretch of land. Ed couldn't resist the smirk that pulled at his lips.

Perfect.

Making sure that Scar couldn't see him, Ed ducked into one of the many warehouses, making use of the night's cover to hide. Right now, he really was grateful that he wasn't wearing his signature red coat. It was harder to hide while wearing red since it was much more noticeable than brown.

"Big bro-"

"Shh, Nina. We can't let him know we're here."

Ed tensed as he heard footsteps approaching. As each step came closer, it felt like Ed was counting down to his own death. But, when Scar passed, it was like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. Ed sighed in relief, his shoulders sagging, and releasing a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

Unforetunately, Scar knew they were somewhere in that yard, so now they had to get out before Scar showed up and blew his brains out, scarring Nina's mind for life, something which Ed did not want.

Clapping his hands together silently, he touched the dirt ground, praying feverently

Alchemical lights crackled through the air, as Ed transmuted a dirt tunnel, leading directly into Central's sewers. Ed wrinkled his nose in disgust. He hated sewers, and even more so since he usually ended up in them at least twice a month while tracking down a rouge Alchemist, or someone across that line.

Ed smiled softly at the small girl as he let her down from his back. "C'mon, Nina. I guess I'll be able to follow you."

Nina smiled brightly. "Ok, big brother Ed!"

Taking her small hand into his own, Ed walked through the tunnel, feeling satisfied as he felt the weight of Nina's hand. He hoped Nina wouldn't ask about her dad. He couldn't bear to see her cry.

But, she was alive, something Ed could still hardly believe. He actually did it. He saved her in time. He succeeded. His heart lightened significantly.

Nina was alive.

LINE BREAK

"It's cloudy today. Do you think we can play with Nina today?" Alphonse asked, twiddling his fingers.

"Al, we're here to research, not play. But I guess we're done, we could play with Nina indoors if it does rain." Ed finished thoughtfully as he trudged down the road to Mr Tucker's house.

However, the scene they came upon minutes later shocked the brothers to the core. Military personnel were outside the house

"Hey, what happened here?" Ed exclaimed, running to the nearest man, pushing down the fear he felt bubbling up in his gut. Nina had her dad had to be ok!

"Move along kid," The man grunted, sparing Ed a brief glance. "It's not your business."

Ed's eye twitched irritably as he dug into his pocket and drew out his pocket watch, practically shoving it into the man's face.

"I'm a State Alchemist," Edward almost snarled. "And I've got business here. And so I reiterate. What happened here?!"

The military recruit who had previously brushed Ed off as some random kid off the street paled at the sight of the pocket watch, before he snapped into a salute. "I'm sorry, sir! Mr Tucker was found dead a few blocks down, and his daughter is currently missing. There have been reports of gunfire late last night, but the rest of the situation is currently unknown."

"Brother..." Ed heard Al whisper fearfully. They were both thinking the same thing. Where was Nina? Ed clenched his fists angrily. This couldn't be happening! Everything was perfectly fine just yesterday, just twenty four hours ago!

"C'mon, Al!" Edward yelled as he turned and ran. "We have to find Nina!"

 _Please be alive, Nina!_

 **[A/N Not much of a cliffhanger, but oh well. Sorry if you think the chapter is a little rushed, but I really didn't know how I was going to get rid of Tucker, so just went, hey, what the heck? Just kill Tucker using Scar!**

 **And then came the problem of how Ed was going to escape. So yeah. I pretty much just made everything up on the spot. Yes, this was three hours of continuous writing!**

 **And now my hand is killing me. Ow ow ow ow...**

 **So yeah. And by the way, even though this story is pretty much Brotherhood based, I'm bringing in some Elements from the 2003 anime, if you hadn't noticed already. One such example is how Nina knows who Hughes is.**

 **So yeah, hope you enjoyed this, and please forgive me if you think this is poorly written. And, by the way, I know about the line break thing, but I just write LINE BREAK because it's a pain to scroll up everytime I want to change scenes.**

 **Crap, I sound like Sloth.**

 **~Gwntan12]**


	4. Scar

"Nina!" Ed called out desperately for the small girl he had grown so attached to as he ran through the deserted streets. She couldn't be dead. She just couldn't.

"Brother, wait for me!" Alphonse pleaded as he tried to keep up with his older brother, who didn't seem to hear him, or anything else for that matter. It was true, though. The only thing Ed could hear at that moment was his own heart pounding away in his chest, along with Nina's voice.

 _"Big brother Ed!"_

Ed squeezed his eyes shut, choking back a sob as he ran through the streets. He didn't want to believe it. He refused to believe it, that Nina was as dead as Mr Tucker was.

Eventually, he had to stop his mad search through the city once it started raining heavily, the pain in his automail ports becoming unbearable.

Collapsing besides a large clock that resembled a grandfather's clock that stood tall and proud at the park, he screamed out in pure anguish into the heavens, believing that the world just took away an innocent little girl who had no fault.

He would make the person responsible suffer. He'd make them pay.

"NINA!"

LINE BREAK

Somewhere underneath the city, in the sewers, -older- Ed sneezed violently.

"Jeez, not again!" He complained to himself, rubbing his nose but not before making sure Nina wouldn't fall off his back. The poor girl was all tuckered out -no pun intended-, so Ed offered to give her a ride.

Needless to say, she accepted with a large smile on her face, thinking she was going to play horsey with her big brother.

"Man, this place stinks. Literally." Ed grumbled as he kept an eye out for a manhole or something that would lead out of the worst place to be in, because he was really sure that by the time this whole mess ended, his nose wouldn't be able to smell anything but the sewer.

That... Wasn't a pretty thought at all.

And he really needed a shower. He hadn't showered for almost a week.

Granted, he had gone longer without a shower during his assignments, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had liked it.

Nope, it was quite the opposite. And besides, his automail was probably going to rust with all the gunk stuck in it. Well, if it didn't break down first. And even though Winry did exist here, he couldn't just waltz up to her and say, "Hey! My automail which just so happens to look like the one you made for Edward -him- with the exact same mechanisms has broken down! Could you help me with this?"

Yeah, because that would go soooo well, and pigs will fly.

Not to mention that he looked like Edward Elric, since he was, well, Edward Elric. Granted, he was at least a year older, but that was besides the point. Being taller, on the other hand...

Just then, Edward spotted something which could have been a blessing from heaven. A manhole.

"Yes! Jackpot!" He cheered childishly, fistpumping the air, before scurrying over to the ladder, grasping the rungs like it was a lifesaver, despite the fact it was covered in some sort of strange, slimy, green mold. Well, Ed could just get rid of the green mold that stained his gloves with just a snap of his fingers. Well, a clap of his hands actually, but again, that was besides the point. Plus, he was the god damn Fullmetal Alchemist. Something as minuscule as mold wouldn't defeat him, no matter how disgusting it was.

But, that still didn't stop him from cringing each time as his hands made contact with a mold infested ladder rung.

Which was why Ed wasted no time in climbing the ladder before he kicked open the manhole, breathing in his first breath of fresh air since three hours ago. Ed shuddered, not bothering concealing it. Right, that was definately the last time he'd be paying any vists to the sewer.

Serial killer trying to murder him or no, he was never, ever, going back into that dark, damp, smelly, excuse of a sewer. Going back in there was definately not worth it.

"Ok, now that I'm out, what now?" Ed mumbled to himself as he transmuted the stupid mold off his gloves, making sure Nina wasn't about to fall off his back, which also reminded him of something he needed to do.

"Oh, right. Nina." Ed cast a glance at the sleeping girl, his eyes softening. He needed to get her somewhere safe, with someone he knows he can trust. And it just so happened that Mr Hughes was staying nearby at the Military dorms while he was working on the murders of State Alchemists since Scar was the one who had committed them.

Huh... Now that Ed actually gave Scar some thought... Didn't Scar target him while he was still in shock from Nina's death? The other timeline Nina, at least. The Ed of this timeline wouldn't be suffering from Nina's death since she wasn't actually dead, so he wouldn't be too out of it, right?

But then again, when had Ed, both of them, ever been right in that sense?

Answer? Never, except for one or two rare moments.

Sparing Nina one last glance, Ed trudged to the military dorms. "Don't worry Nina. You'll be safe with Mr Hughes. Unlike Mr Tucker."

LINE BREAK

It had been a very bad day for Hughes. One State Alchemist dead, a little girl missing, and a serial killer still at large. Also, he had to leave Central to work on this case, which meant he couldn't be at home with his beautiful wife and little angel. Oh, that just hurt him, seeing as how he had to spend time away from them.

However, his thoughts somehow managed to drift towards the small girl named Nina Tucker. She was just a year older than his angel Elicia, and yet her father was dead, with the high probability of her being in the same condition. Dead as a door nail.

And that thought alone was enough to frighten Hughes. If something like this could happen to someone else, it might just happen to his darling wife and daughter too! No!

While he fretted over the horrible mental imagery created by the fears of his mind, he didn't notice the whispers just outside of his door, until a loud knock resounded through the room, startling it's sole occupant.

"Who is it?" Hughes called out, adjusting his glasses which had been knocked askew during his initial shock, only to be greeted with silence.

He frowned deeply. Something wasn't right here, but what?

Drawing out one of his signature blades, he held it at ready as he cautiously unlocked his room door. Whoever it was out there, he sincerely hoped that it wasn't an enemy, but even that was unlikely, right? This was a military dorm, after all. So what were the chances that whoever it was outside, was a hostile attacker? Very slim, but military academy had taught him to be cautious no matter what.

As his door swung open, his eyes widened in shock as his eyes met a much shorter familiar figure's large eyes.

"Mr Hughes!" Nina smiled brightly. "Big brother showed me where to find you!"

Beside Nina was a somewhat average sized person of about 165 centimeters tall, and was clearly male. However, Hughes wasn't able to get a good look at him because of the hood that shadowed the upper part of his face. But still, whoever it was, he was clearly not even in his twenties!

"Could you take care of her for me?" A young male voice cut into Hughes's thoughts. "I can't take care of her since I've got something to do."

Hughes, who was obviously still getting over his shock, numbly nodded his consent, and in return, the stranger grinned. "Thank you!"

There was something familiar about this boy, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. Something about his voice...

Then it suddenly clicked who is voice reminded him of.

"Ed." Hughes whispered to himself, but the stranger heard him, flinching slightly, something which Hughes didn't miss. "Huh?!"

"You remind me of someone I know." Hughes finally let one question he had been dying to ask out. "Where did you find Nina? Everyone who knows her has been worried sick!"

"At her house. Before the whole incident." Hughes felt his jaw drop open slightly. Doesn't that mean that whoever this person was, he was the one who took Nina?! For what reason?! He felt himself tense slightly.

"Eh, don't worry. I got her away since that bastard of her father was planning on experimenting on her, which would have turned her into a chimera."

It took Hughes a total of five seconds to register what the boy said.

"What?!"

"Calm down, it's not like it's going to happen to her now. I'd explain to you, but I've already done what I came here to do." He reassured Hughes as said person looked like he was about to get a heart attack.

The boy turned away, and started walking back to where he came from, before he stopped dead in his tracks and turned back around. "I almost forgot! Regarding that serial killer, are you sure you should be letting Fullmetal wander the city?"

Wait, who are you?" Hughes asked suddenly, while the newly received information was still being processed in his head, which was going at a snail's speed. The boy grinned. "You'll see, Mr Hughes. In fact, you already know who I am. You just have to think."

Walking back down the hallway, he suddenly yelled, "Say hi to Elicia for me!"

Hughes blinked in surprise. Wha-?! How did he know what his little angel's name was?!

Just then, everything finished processing in his brain, and Hughes paled drastically. Oh crap...

With Nina following closely behind, Hughes frantically rushed down to the military line in the building, dialing Mustang's number at East City headquarters at what could only be described as ludicrous speed.

 _"Hughes, if it's about your daughter...!"_ Mustang began irritably from his side, eye twitching violently.

"No, where's Edward?!"

 _"What, Fullmetal? He's somewhere in the city. Why?"_

"Roy, have you forgotten about the serial killer?! The one who kills State Alchemists?!"

There was a pause, before Mustang finally said, _"Oh no..."_

Mustang had forgotten after all.

LINE BREAK

Edward stared at the cold stone floor numbly, feeling the rain on him. He didn't care if he was wet. Hell, he didn't even care if ports hurt. He just wanted to know what happened to Nina, clinging to the hope that she might still be alive.

"Brother... Do you think Nina is ok?" Alphonse asked, a tinge of sadness lacing his tone. Al had been just as affected as his older brother was, only he could hide his feelings better because armour can't show emotions. However Ed, being flesh and blood, couldn't help the onslaught of feelings that assaulted him, and threatened to spill out. But he couldn't cry. How could he, if his brother couldn't? It wasn't fair.

"Yeah... Nina is safe..." Before adding in a much quieter voice, "She has to be..."

"The Fullmetal Alchemist... Edward Elric." An unfamiliar voice cut into Ed's thoughts.

Ed tilted his head upwards, to give acknowledgement, when Al suddenly screamed. "Brother!"

Ed gasped as Al pulled him to the side, narrowly dodging a hand that would have caused his untimely demise. Talk about close calls, because this was no doubt one of them.

Clapping his hands together, he pictured the needed transmutation circle in his head before slamming his palms to the ground, watching Alchemical light spark as Ed transmuted a box to encase his attacker.

"What the-?!" Ed barely got two words out before his transmutation was blown apart, a large hole decorating it's side.

Ed's eyes widened with fear as he felt the killing intent radiate off the man in waves. Pure terror gripped his heart as adredeline pumped through his veins. _This is bad! Very bad! He's going to kill me! I can't die yet! Not until...!_

"Run for it, Al!"

The two brothers dashed away in an attempt to run, only for the man to follow them, hot on their heels. "You won't get away again!"

"What's this guy's problem?!" Ed yelled above the wind as he ran down the street like he never ran before. "I haven't done anything to make enemies!"

"But brother..."

There was a pause, before Ed sheepishly ducked his head with an embarrassed flush coloring his face as he corrected himself. For a fifteen year old, he sure did know how to make enemies. "Scratch that, I've done a lot, and I've never really avoided it. But I haven't done anything for someone to want to kill me!"

Ed and Al screamed as the floor deconstructed, which sent both brothers flying, but fortunately, they were able to regain their balance, continuing their mad running down the streets.

"Brother, this way!"

Turning his head to see Al in an alleyway, Ed hurried over, but not before hissing frantically, "Al, he saw us go in here!"

"Don't worry brother."

Placing his hands on a pre-drawn transmutation circle, Alphonse activated it, a wall rising up from the ground. "Hey, good thinking! Now he can't get us-!" The wall was blown apart, the stray shrapnel scratching at a shocked Ed's face and Al's armour.

"... Or maybe not." Ed finished weakly, before both of them turned and bolted, screaming like little girls all the way. Well, at least until the walls of the alley was deconstructed, which crumbled down, with rubble obscuring their path.

"Damn it!" Ed coughed, trying to clear the dust, before he looked up and glared at the scar faced man. "Who are you, and why are you after us?!" Ed could think of several reasons, but none of them were severe enough to incur the man's killing intent.

"I've told you before, Fullmetal Alchemist. Where there are creators, there are also destroyers. And you, Fullmetal Alchemist, shall recieve judgement!"

"Look like we don't have a choice, Al." Edward clapped his hands, grabbing a stray pipe from the rubble and transmuted it into a sword. But there was something the scar faced man had said that Ed found extremely confusing. He kept talking as if they had met, and fought before! Had Ed really fought him before? Because Ed was fairly certain he would have remembered homicidal person like him.

Making sure he had a good grip on his sword, he dashed at his attacker, sword held ready as Al had his fists ready.

"You've got guts. However..."

The man dodged both attacks easily, catching them off guard. "Too slow!"

Al, who had been so unforetunate as to have been the closest to the man's right hand, couldn't recover in time to dodge the hand, the side of his armour exploding into pieces.

Ed's horrified eyes widened as he watched pieces of his his little brother's armour soar through the air, landing on the ground noisily. "ALPHONSE!"

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, no less then twenty meters away, stood Ed's older self. He had been mentally debating with himself on whether or not he should intervene in that battle between Scar and his younger self, who was obviously out of it, just like he was when he was attacked like this a year and a half ago.

He had been perfectly content with just standing by, until things took a turn slightly differently from how it had been for him. Reason number two, why he hated time traveling. Number one was having to constantly hide when 'subtle' was clearly not his middle name.

Ok, maybe the turn wasn't that small at all. It was just that, the last time Ed checked, the military was still five minutes away, and the fight between his younger self and Scar was already reaching it's climax.

By that, meaning his arm was about to get shattered into a million pieces. That didn't bode well, since once Ed's arm was gone, he had pretty much given up, making Scar promise not to lay a finger on Al in exchange for his death. Ed groaned loudly, realization settling in.

He actually would have died, if it wasn't for Mustang and the military's timely arrival. Then again, he was completely useless, and the worst part was that the Colonel had forgotten about his weakness in the rain, only being saved by Hawkeye's quick reflexes.

Honestly, the Colonel really could be an idiot.

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, he looked back at the fight just in time to see his younger self's arm blown to pieces. Ed winced, reaching up and gingerly touching his head at the area where a wrench would usually collide with his skull. He really couldn't help but feel sorry for himself when his younger self would return to Resembool, only to end up on the receiving end of Winry's wrath. The consolation was that he wasn't the one on the receiving end.

Ed shuddered violently. Winry could be as scary as his teacher if she needed to be!

Ed watched the similar events to his own timeline play out, a small frown tugging on his lips. Aw man... So in this timeline, the military wouldn't make it in time to save him? That sucked.

Deciding that he had enough of playing the bystander, Ed clapped his hands together, slamming them into the ground, blue Alchemical light crackling as he transmuted a stone fist out of the ground with the intent on having it slam into Scar.

However, said person jumped out of the way before the stone fist made contact, his head turning sharply at the source of the transmutation, only to see a hooded teenager. "Stay out of my way or I shall eliminate you." Scar growled.

"Sorry, no can do." Ed said flatly as he stood up, dusting his gloved hands off.

"You're-!" Ed heard Al say, but he just blocked off the rest of Alphonse's sentence.

"I was perfectly content with letting things proceed the way it should here, but the military decided to be slow bastards instead, so here I am." Ed crossed his arms in a deceptive manner, in which the position would allow him to appear relaxed, while in truth he could pull off a transmutation quickly if the need be so.

While he was unlucky, the clap Alchemy really proved useful at times.

"Then I shall eminate you." Stepping over the prone body of Ed's younger self, Scar advanced on Ed menacingly.

A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. Scar was easily one of the most dangerous people he had ever fought in his entire military career. Most of the idiots he usually had to deal with could barely fight, let alone land a scratch on him. And the rouge alchemists who he hunted down occasionally, while they could land a hit or two with alchemy, Ed still managed to take them down eventually.

And no, he never actually managed to take down Scar. That one time in Briggs didn't count, so technically, he never beat Scar once.

... Yeah, he was probably going to die. His only regret was that he never did tell Winry that he wrecked her automail again. On second thoughts, maybe that wasn't so bad. At least he would die without a migraine.

Clapping his hands together, he placed them on the floor before he transmuted his cool -gaudy- spear out from the ground, giving it a swing to get a good feel of the weapon before pointing it at Scar.

Ed heard Al gasp faintly in the background. Even his younger self, who had pushed himself up into a sitting position, gaped at him and his lack of transmutation circles. So much for not drawing attention to himself.

Charging at Scar may not have been one of Ed's brightest ideas -it actually ranked somewhere at rock bottom-, but it sure was effective. Ed had run at Scar, brandishing his spear, and when Scar thrust out his right hand, Ed had waited until the very last moment to dodge, sidestepping from Scar's attack and pretty much just tripped him.

He _knew_ it was good idea to keep his Northern Automail instead of the regular heavy ones that stunted his gro-! No! He was _not_ short! Bad brain!

Ignoring Ed's mental beating, Scar regained his balance and scrutinized the hooded teen through narrowed eyes. That boy... Who was he? Scar knew that something was off about him, but he just didn't know what. However, Scar pushed theses thoughts to the back of his head. He needed to stay focused.

But, luckily for both Eds and perhaps unforetunately for Scar, a warning shot was fired, signaling the arrival of the military, startling all of them."That's enough, Scar." Mustang announced, lowering his gun with a grim expression across his face. "I'm taking you in for the murder of more than ten State Alchemists."

Older Ed quite frankly couldn't be bothered hang around any longer by this point, seeing as how he wasn't needed there for any reason at all since everything was the military's problem, not his.

But he did stick around long enough to watch Mustang's humiliation at bring unable to use his Flame Alchemy, so whatever fight he had fought with Scar previously was completely worth it, just to see Hawkeye trip the Colonel. Too bad he was too traumatized during the first time to enjoy it.

Quietly slipping away from the scene before anyone noticed him taking his leave, Ed sighed. Well, time to head to the First Branch Library in Central to hunt down Doctor Marco's research notes on the Philosopher's Stone.

Too bad it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, judging by the sheer size of the library. Giving one more dramatic sigh, Ed just knew he was going to be in for a looong week.

LINE BREAK

"A mysterious person, who seems to know something we don't?" Mustang raised an eyebrow at the blonde Alchemist seated in his office. Currently, Mustang's team and Armstrong were crowding Mustang's already cramped office. Too bad it was going to get a lot more cramped when Hughes arrived.

"Yeah. He told me to beware beings who bear the Ouroborous, and he also told that I know him better than anybody else." Ed groaned in frustration. Honestly, would it kill whoever it was to tell him who he was? It would save him a lot of grief in the future.

"Hm, this is most suspicious." Armstrong said, fortunately still wearing his shirt. Speaking of, where did his previous one vanish to during his fight with Scar? Did he disintegrate it, or something?

Just then, Hughes poked his head through the door with a cheeky salute. "Yo, Roy!"

Mustang massaged his temples, feeling the oncoming headache. Dear Truth, he needed more Asprin, and it was his luck that he just ran out of the only medicine that could possibly give him relief.

But before Mustang could say anything, another much shorter figure peeked out from behind the doorway, brightening up as she caught sight of Edward and Alphonse. "Big brothers!"

Ed's eyes widened as relief flooded his face, while Al proved out it was physically possible to show expressions on armour. "Nina!"

"Oh right. I forgot to tell you about her, Roy." Hughes grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as Nina ran over to give her big brothers a hug as Ed nearly cried with joy. "This teenager dropped her off at my dorm and told me to take care of her."

Mustang straightened at this, frowning. "Teenager? Wait, who was he?"

Hughes shrugged. "Beats me. He had a hood up, and pretty much just told me to guess who he was. He said I knew him, though."

"That sounds like the same guy, Colonel Bastard!" Ed piped up, leaving a very confused Hughes and an exasperated Alphonse swatting Ed for the use of inappropriate language in front of a little girl.

"Wha?" Was the only intelligent thing Hughes could come up with at that moment, feeling completely lost as to what Ed was talking about since he wasn't around or the first part of the conversation.

Alphonse, being the kind soul he was, took in upon himself to explain the context of the conversation they were having.

"Well," Hughes began, now having a full understanding of the situation. "I could try look up for some information on this person."

"That would be appreciated."

Just then, Alphonse piped up. "Uh... I'm sorry to interrupt but, I would like to be fixed..." Al trailed off, as everyone turned to look at him.

"Would you like me to fix you up?" Armstrong boomed, his shirt mysteriously vanishing as he posed.

"No thank you." Alphonse firmly said as he proved it possible for armour to sweat.

"Yeah. I'm the only one who knows how to bind Al's soul the armour. But can't exactly do that with my arm in pieces." Ed explained, casting a glance at the pieces of his shattered automail. "So I'll have to go get a replacement."

"... Brother, you know she's going to kill you, right?"

"... Please don't remind me. I'm stressed enough as it is." Ed groaned, his head starting to throb at the mere reminder of a certain blonde mechanic and her weapo- uh, tools.

Everyone else could only look at them in confusion.

 **[A/N Well, here's chapter four. However, I have a suspicion that it's not up to my usual standards. Oh well...**

 **Well, I'm looking forward to writing the next one, so I hope I'll get it out soon! Also, I know my battle scenes suck, so please forgive me if you didn't like the really short one of Scar vs Edward.**

 **Also, if you find any mistakes that I missed in the chapter like misspellings, don't hesitate to tell me so I can fix it.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this!**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	5. Lust and Gluttony

Ed stared out of the window, just as he had been for the past two or so hours. Just two more hours, and he'll be at Central, ready to dig through that ridiculously large library known as First Branch for Doctor Marco's damn research notes on the **** Philosopher's Stone.

Ed narrowed his eyes at the memory of those ten, hellish days of decoding that stupid cookbook, only to discover the dark secret of the Philosopher's Stone. Human lives. It made him sick to his stomach, just knowing that the very thing he had sought for four years was made out of the lives of living humans.

However, despite that, Ed never regretted discovering the truth. After all, that one, single event set off a chain reaction, which led from one event, to the other, which eventually led to the Promised Day, followed by saving Amestris's population from being turned into a Philsopher's Stone.

However, while Ed never regretted being able to save Amestris, Mr Hughes's death was something he wished he could have prevented. It made him just want to give up, abandoning his search, his and Al's reasoning being, that if anyone had to die just for them, they didn't need their bodies back.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he couldn't help the soft smile that spread across his face. He had a flesh hand now. A real, flesh and blood hand. And if he handled things correctly here, Al would get back his flesh and blood body. Not to mention that he would be able to give the people who had been killed their lives back.

Perhaps his newest task was worth the effort he'll have to put in once again.

LINE BREAK

Meanwhile, on a different train bound for Resembool, Ed silently fumed at the Major who thought it was a good idea to put his brother on the livestock cart, proclaiming that it was cheaper than paying for an actual train ticket.

His brother was _not_ a piece of luggage, or livestock, damn it! And besides, why did the major have to escort him to Resembool?! He wasn't invalid, and even if he had to be escorted, why couldn't it have been someone else?! Why Armstrong, of all the available people?!

A knock on the train window Ed was seated next to drew him out of his silent fuming, before he turned to see Hughes.

"Hey, Ed! I came to see you off." Hughes said in his usual cheerful way. "Oh! And the Roy told me to give you a message. He said, 'Don't die in my jurisdiction. It's a pain to clean up the mess.'"

Ed's eye twitched. That son of a-! "Tell him, 'Roger that. I'll never die before you, you stupid *****!'"

Hughes chuckled at Ed's blatant insult at Mustang. "They say the ones who swear more tend to live longer!"

 _"Unfortunately, I don't believe that to be my case..."_ Ed mentally deadpanned, thoughts of how many enemies he had made in just three years running through his head before he remembered something. "Oh! I just remembered something. Say, Mr Hughes, remember what Mustang and I were talking about earlier? About that guy?"

Hughes screwed up his face in thought, before replying with an affirmative nod.

"He can transmute without a circle, just like me."

Suprise flashed across Hughes's face, and almost immediately, Ed wondered if he should have mentioned that fact, since being able to transmute without a circle was an ability reserved for those who had seen the Truth.

But then again, no one actually knew that, except for the individual who had dared play god. And since that ability was rare, it would be easier to track down that person.

"Alright, I'll look into that, so have a safe trip!" Hughes said before giving a salute, which was then returned by Armstong and Ed, who had to use his left arm instead of right since his right arm was literally in pieces. And how anyone expects a uniform salute from someone without a right arm was definately baffling.

LINE BREAK

Older Ed peeked out of the shadows in the fading evening light, his eyes firmly on his destination. First Branch of Central library.

He would probably have to wait at least an hour or two more before breaking in to search for those stupid research notes, to avoid detection. It would probably be guarded at night, but then again, there was hardly anybody around at night, so breaking in at night was definately a breeze compared to the day.

However, the only thing Ed was worried about was the reason for which the library burnt down. If his memory served him right, it was going to be burnt down that very night, and honestly, Ed wasn't looking forward to meeting the culprit, even though couldn't remember for the life of him who it was.

Seconds slowly turned into minutes, before the minutes turned into hours.

One hour.

Two hours.

By then, the moon shone brightly in the sky, casting a faint flow over Central's deserted streets. Ed took a deep breath. It was show time.

Making use of the shadows as covers -at least until he remembered about Pride-, Ed darted to the back of the library, to the back door and tried it. Ed snorted. Of course it would be locked. What idiot would leave the door to a literal treasure trove of information unlocked?

Which precisely why Ed was more than surprised to find it unlocked. Ed blinked, once, twice and finally, three times, before face palming. Really? He really didn't expect that... Apparently idiots that idiotic actually existed. Ed shrugged. Eh, less work for him, and more lecture for whoever that idiot was.

Slipping into the library, he wasted no time in dawdling and set out to accomplish what he came for. Finding the hand written notes named, '1000 Easy Recipes by Tim Marco.'

But, just like Ed feared, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Only about a thousand times worst. It was like searching the Philosopher's Stone all over again. Well, technically it was, since he was looking for the notes on how to make one...

Five hours later, three hundred thousand swear words, a cup of coffee Ed got from who knows where, more swear words, albeit more creative, and finally a complete encyclopedia on all living matter falling on his head later, he finally managed to locate the damn cookbook that had been causing him so much grief.

Weighing the book in his hands -which was smaller than that stack of papers Sheska had written out for him-, Ed really wondered whether or not he should just burn the damn thing for revenge since he'd been looking for the cursed thing for five hours straight, without even stopping for a bathroom break, which reminded him that he really had to go answer the call of nature, thanks to that cup of coffee that no actually knows where he got from.

Then again, wasn't there a secret stash of coffee beans hidden in the staff's lounge, hidden in cupboard two...?

Suddenly, Ed heard the library's front door creak open slowly. Normally, that door's squeakiness just plain annoying, but at night when everything was eerily silent, it sounded like it came out of a horror movie.

Quickly shutting off the flashlight he had transmuted earlier, he ducked behind one of the many book shelves, keeping an eye out for the intruder -as if he wasn't one!-. Whoever it was, he or she probably burnt down the library.

"Doctor Marco just had to hide the notes here, didn't he?" A seductive voice sighed, sending chills down Ed's back, in an extremely bad way. The Truth had better not be making things harder for him...!

An unfortunately familiar person with a curved figure, wearing a dark dress that revealed her large bust, that would have made most men drool came into Ed's view, followed by an extremely fat, short, bald man, also clothed black. Both of them had an identical tattoo depicting a snake biting it's own tail, one just above her bust, and the other on his tongue. The Ouroborous. "We'll just have to search until we find it, don't we, Gluttony?"

Ed groaned loudly in his head. It just had to be Lust and Gluttony, didn't it? This was bad. Very bad. There was a high chance his cover was going to blown, thanks to Gluttony's stupid sense of smell. Also, even if he did survive this encounter, he was definately going on the Homunculi's radar, whether he liked it, or not. And here he thought he'd be able to stay off the radar for just a little while longer.

Hell, Ed thought, seeing Gluttony sniff the air, he was sure Gluttony was going to sniff him out any moment-

"Lust, Lust!" Gluttony sang giddily, catching said homunculus's attention. "I smell him! I smell someone who smells like Fullmetal!"

Annnnd, there it was. Great. Just great. He was going to die, and it would all Gluttony's fault. _"With some luck,"_ Ed began in his head, slowly creeping away as quietly as he could, pushing the book into one of his coat's ridiculously large pockets that the Truth decided to grace him with, _"I can get away before they find me-"_

An elongated nail shot out, stabbing the bookcase Ed was hiding behind, just above his head. Ed unintentionally giving a small yelp of shock before he clamped a hand over his mouth, his breath hitching slightly, even though he knew it was a lost cause to try and be quiet now. Stupid stupid stupid-! He and his big mouth, and now he's gone and given himself away.

"Looks like we've found our little mouse, haven't we?" Lust smiled as she retracted her long nails, her eyes locked directly on Ed. Fortunately, he still had his hood up, which may allow him to keep his identity as a future Ed hidden slightly longer.

And since Lust just called him little, it was becoming increasingly difficult to reign in his famous Elric temper, since Ed didn't want anything more than just punching Lust in the face for that remark.

Gritting his teeth, he clapped his hands together, transmuting a wall to give himself as much space as possible between the two Homunculi and himself, not missing Lust's look of suprise, before he bolted, his leather elevator boots pounding against the planked floors as he made sure Doctor Marco's notes were safely tucked into his coat.

However, when he was just a mere two meters from the exit, Ed felt a piercing pain in his shoulder as Lust's nails slammed into his left shoulder, nailing him to the wall.

Ed cried out in pain, his free hand reaching up to grasp the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood that flowed out steadily from his shoulder, his hand almost immediately becoming drenched with crimson.

"There's no point in running," Lust advanced on Ed, who couldn't help the fear that bubbled up in his chest. "It's a shame that you've seen us. You are a perfect candidate for sacrifice."

"Can I eat him, Lust?" Gluttony drooled. "He looks tasty. Can I? Can I?"

"Later, Gluttony."

Ed slowly brought his right hand into his outer pocket, grasping a small lighter. He had been experimenting around with the Colonel's Flame Alchemy, and now was probably the perfect time to put it to the test.

Pulling it out, Ed quickly clapped his hands together, altering the air's oxygen density before he flicked the ignition.

Almost immediately, a powerful fireball roared out, destroying everything in it's path with such intensity, that it included half the library being burnt to cinders. Did Ed forget to mention that he had almost zero control over Flame Alchemy? Reason why'll he'll never actually use it unless he absolutely has to. In fact, that was the first time he had ever tried it in battle, seeing as how it usually blew up in face, once resulting in him losing the vast majority of his eyebrows when he was travelling with Greed during that six months.

Greed never did let that one go, nor did Heinkel or Darius, much to Ed's annoyance and embarrassment.

Well, anyway, going back on point, there was good news, and bad news. The good news was that when he incinerated Lust, the nails pinning him to the wall disintegrated, freeing him. The bad news was that Ed succeeded in destroying at least half of the library, and the rest was slowly being consumed by flames.

Poor library, it seems as if it can't ever escape being destroyed, no matter what timeline it's in. Talk about bad luck.

As Lust regenerated, Ed took this chance to slip out of the building, his right hand grasping over his injured shoulder as be staggered out as fast as he could to escape the burning building.

Ed winced as another sharp stab of pain shot up his arm, his nerves feeling as if they were on fire. He really wished he had time to properly learn Alkhestry, because it sure would come in handy right about now! Eh, he can just close it up with Alchemy. He did it before, so why not now?

Looking back at the library which was currently going up in flames, the only thing he could say was, "Whoops." All the while looking slightly sheepish because there went a vast collection of knowledge, up in flames, and it was pretty much his fault. If it was any consolation, Sheska did remember the books that just literally went up in smoke word for word, so at least the people needed those materials wouldn't suffer too much... Right?

Though, Ed really couldn't help but feel bad for whoever it was who left the library unlocked, since he or she was probably going to get one hell of an earful tommorow morning. Now that he thought about it, that's probably where the phrase, 'a rude awakening' came from.

Clearing his head from those thoughts, since Ed had more important priorities to tend to, since he was kind of bleeding to death, he trudged away to his temporary hideout -which was just an alley-, to transmute the broken tissue on his shoulder back together. It was just a temporary fix, but it was better than nothing.

Trudging back to his alley, feeling the weight of Doctor Marco's notes in his pocket allowed him some sense of accomplishment despite getting injured, his mouth twitching up into a satisfied smirk. Ed, one. Homunculi, zero.

LINE BREAK

Back at the destroyed remains of the First Branch library, Lust sighed. "Not what I was planning for, but I suppose that'll do. At least the Fullmetal boy won't be able to get his hands on Doctor Marco's research."

Though she had to wonder, who was that boy she found snooping around? Normally, Lust wouldn't have given him another thought, but he was able to transmute with a circle, and also, Gluttony had said he smelled like the Fullmetal boy, which was interesting. He would be a perfect candidate for her Father's plans.

"Gluttony, come. Looks like we'll have to report to Father earlier than we expected..."

LINE BREAK

Younger Ed hopped off the train, a large grin plastered on his face as he stretched his stiff limbs from sitting still for such a long period of time. He couldn't wait to get to the First Branch's library, since that was where his first and only solid lead on the Philosopher's Stone was. "Yes! We're finally here!" Ed cheered like the child he was supposed to be.

Just then, the shuffling of feet and fabric signaled the arrival of military personnel. The two newest arrivals snapped into a salute.

"Second Lieutenant Ross, and Sargent Brosh reporting for the taking over of the Fullmetal Alchemist, sir!" Both of them said in unison, in a perfect uniform salute.

"Excellent!" Armstrong boomed, sparkling. "I'll leave it to the both of you then."

"Whaaaaat?" Ed moaned. "Just when I'm home free, I get saddled with more bodyguards?"

"Indeed, Edward! But now, I must take my leave."

Ed perked up at this. "Alright then, bye! See you!" Ed exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. In his defense, while Armstrong wasn't actually a bad person, he could get a little too... Overly emotional, and from Ed's experience, it wasn't too pretty.

"Oh, Edward Elric! I'll miss you!" Armstrong boomed, tears pouring out of his eyes as he very nearly squeezed the life out of Ed just by hugging him.

Ed swore he heard a few ribs break.

A few minutes later, he, Al, the lieutenant and the Sargent were all seated in a car headed for the library. A few minutes into the ride, Al noticed the Sargent staring at him.

"Um... Is something the matter?" Alphonse asked, tilting his armoured head slightly in confusion.

"Uh, no!" Sargent Brosh said quickly. "I was just wondering why you were wearing armour!"

"It's a hobby!" Ed and Al exclaimed, not before freezing up for a few seconds, saying the first thing that popped into their heads, no matter how lame the excuse sounded.

"A hobby?! What kind of a freakish hobby is that?!" Ross whispered to Brosh as Ed and Al stared out of the window, sweating nervously. "The weather sure is nice, isn't it?" Ed asked, desperate to change the subject, the pitch of his voice noticeably a few pitches higher than it was just ten seconds before.

"Y-yeah, brother!" Al followed his brother's lead, once again proving that it was possible for armour to sweat.

"So, how long more to the library?" Ed asked the lieutenant, still trying to change the topic. "Um, we'll be at First Branch in a few more minutes, well, what's left of it."

"...Wha? What's left of it?" Ed blinked, his mind not registering the information Ross has provided him with. Please don't be true, Ed repeated in his head like some sort of mantra.

Too bad it was true.

"THE LIBRARY!" Ed shrieked the moment he caught sight of the smoldering remains of the once proud library. "IT'S GONE!"

Once again, Ed's famous Elric luck had won out. This was just not his day.

 **[A/N Alright, this chapter was really fun to write, since I finally put in the Homunculi. However, I feel that some characters are OOC, like older Ed, for example.**

 **Don't know why, but it just feels like that.**

 **I got a writer's block somewhere at the end, so please forgive me for the poor writing!**

 **And wow, fifteen reviews in just two days?! Damn, that's a lot! Thanks guys!**

 **Erm... So yeah. I hope you enjoyed this, so bye! And if you spot any mistakes, please tell me!**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	6. An encounter between Past and Future

Ed lifted up a book that had been scorched black with flames, only to have it crumble to ashes as Ed stared dejectedly at the remains of the library.

"Our only solid lead on the stone, Doctor Marco's research notes..." He moaned in despair, sinking to his knees. "Up in smoke!"

While Alphonse comforted his obviously distraught brother, Second lieutenant Maria Ross, in an attempt to get Ed off the floor, helpfully supplied with a, "Well, all hope isn't lost. There was a woman working here who was quite well acquainted with the materials here."

"Really?!" Ed perked up again at this new piece of information.

"But unfortunately, she's not working here anymore." Maria finished, Ed sighing in frustration at how difficult his life was. Whoever the bright idiot was who decided to burn down the library was no doubt going to get punched in the face by him personally. Somewhere in the generally more shady part of Central, older Ed -who was busy patching up his wound- sneezed.

"That sounds incredibly helpful." Ed mumbled sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nonetheless of what Ed had said, fifteen minutes later, they stood in front of an apartment door.

"Is anyone even home?" Ed mumbled, seeing the lack of response from his knocks. "Ms Sheska?" Maria Ross called as Ed found the door to be unlocked, before he pushed it open, only for the group to gape at the sight, because holy-!

Mountains of books that filled almost every inch of the apartment were piled up precariously in semi neat stacks, leaving everyone present speechless.

"Someone actually _lives_ here?!" Maria, who still hadn't recovered enough to find her voice, nodded her head dumbly as response to Ed's bewildered exclamation. "T-that's what the records say..." Sergeant Denny Brosh supplied, trailing off, his eyes still bugging out at the sheer amount of books that was actually possible for someone to read.

Then again, if Ed actually bothered to buy books, and keep them, he and Al would probably have accumalated the same amount of books, maybe even more, if one was to take into account how many books Ed had read during the past three years of being in the military.

"Hello? Anybody home? We're coming in!" Ed called out as he stepped over a small pile of books. "Brother! You can't just enter someone's house uninvited!" Alphonse scolded, as Maria and Denny followed Ed. Al sighed, before making his way in. His brother really was going to get in trouble one day- wait, never mind. Ed already had gotten into trouble more than Al could count on his fingers.

"Ms Sheska?" Maria called as she slowly made her way past the stacks of books, so as to not topple them because it looked really painful to have them fall on your head.

"Hello?" Ed made his way through the mess of books, walking as per normal. At times like this, his sma- uh, comfortable sized body really came in handy. Wait, no! That's not good!

Just as Al inched past a pile of books that swayed dangerously, threatening to collapse on Al -For once, he was really grateful he couldn't feel anything in the armour, since all he could think about was how painful hard cover books could be. He would know, since he had first hand experience six years ago-, a muffled cry brought his attention before he backed up to locate the source, only to freeze in his tracks.

"Uh, brother...?" Al began slowly, pointing at something his older brother couldn't see as he looked back, hearing Al talk.

Squeezing past the Sergeant and the lieutenant -Quite easily, since he was so sma- NO!-, Ed nearly tripped over a couple of books, before he caught himself and steadied himself on Al, pretending he never tripped since he did have his pride to keep.

"Is that...?" Hearing Al speak, noting the worridness in his tone, Ed followed the imaginary line Al's finger drew before his eyes landed on a collapsed stack of books that had a hand holding a pair if glasses, which had seemingly buried a table-

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Back up.

A _hand_ holding a pair of glasses?!

"WAAAH! THERE'S SOMEONE BURIED DOWN THERE! DIG! DIG!" Ed shrieked, frantically pulling the books from the pile and throwing them mindlessly behind him, before Al and Denny followed suit, while Maria moved the books with slightly more care.

Eventually, sometime during that mad throwing of books, one hit another stack and- well, the outcome should have been pretty obvious, and so, as the trio yelped as soon as they felt a foreign weight land on them, Maria could only bring her hand up to her mouth to cover up a cross between a giggle and an exasperated sigh.

"I'm so sorry! I accidentally knocked over a stack of books and I really thought was going to die!" A girl with mousy brown hair that had been cropped short apologized profusely as soon as all the books had been cleared, bowing in embarrassment, before she replaced her large glasses.

"Uh..." Ed raised his hand to get her attention in an effort to stop the girl's continuous apologies that streamed from her mouth. "Are you Sheska?'

"Oh, yes, I am." Sheska paused mid apology to give an affirmative nod.

"So... You worked at the library?" Ed asked. The moment the word 'library' escaped from Ed's mouth, the newly named Sheska gasped.

"Oh, the library!" She gushed, her eyes sparkling brightly. Ed vaguely wondered why everyone seemed to sparkle at some point in their lives. But more importantly, those sparkles had better not be contagious since one Armstrong was bad enough. Imagine if everyone had sparkles! Oh... That was a really horrible thought for Ed.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I had always loved reading, so when I got that job, it was almost like I had been sent to heaven! But..." Suddnely, she seemingly wilted before their very eyes, a gloomly cloud hanging over her head. "I forgot I was supposed to be working, and so they fired me! Now I can't get the money to transfer my dear sick mother to a better hospital! I'm a failure! A good-for-nothing!" Sheska wailed, bursting into a ocean of tears.

"Um..." Ed wondered why she was busy wailing. If she got fired, shouldn't she just get another job? But, Ed really just needed to know something.

"Yes?" Sheska paused in her mindless wailing about how she was worthless and a failure. Talk about self degrading.

"In the first branch, did you see any books written by Tim Marco?"

"Hmm... Let's see... Tim Marco... Tim Marco..." Sheska clapped her hands together, beaming. "Oh yes! I remember them quite distinctly! They were some hand written notes shoved in an incorrect shelf."

"So they were there! But that means..." Ed grinned, just as reality set in. "...they burnt up, along with the library..." Ed and Al moaned, crying internally over their bad fortune. Oh, they were definately going to have a fit when they find out that the notes were in fact, not destroyed. Rather, Ed's older self was currently in possession of the notes. Well, they would, but not before they get over the shock.

"Oh... So you wanted to read them?" Sheska asked, staring at the two who were curled up in the corner, sighing.

"Yeah, but it's no use now..." Ed murmured dejectedly, making to exit the room, before making a beeline to the military hotel to just curl up in his bed and sulk.

"Sorry for bothering you." Al followed after his brother.

"Well, I do remember everything in it, so does that help?"

A pause, before the new piece of information Sheska gave finally sunk in, leaving the brothers' jaws to fall open in a silent exclamation.

"WHAT?!" Ok, maybe not so silent anymore, as Ed and Al yelled out exactly what they thought in unison.

Sheska took a step back, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her temple. "T-that's the way I am! I am able to remember the contents of ever single book I ever read. If you'd like, I could copy them out for you."

"Thank you, book worm!" Ed thanked her, overjoyed at the fact that he still had a lead on the Philosopher's stone, and that he wouldn't be dying a sad man.

"Book... Worm?" Sheska repeated the endearing nickname Ed had given her, unsure of whether or not it was meant to be a compliment.

LINE BREAK

"Yow!" Older Ed hissed in pain as he pulled on the bandage -which he transmuted from random pieces of stray cloth- with slightly too much force. He had transmuted the tissue back over the wound to stop the bleeding, but that didn't mean he was completely healed. The torn flesh beneath the skin needed time to heal, and the skin itself was still thin enough to tear at any given moment. And quite frankly, Ed really didn't want to have to clean up anymore evidence then he had to.

"Alright... Now what should I do now?" Ed reached into his coat and drew out Doctor Marco's research notes. "What the hell should I do with this? Man, I should thought this out better!" Ed moaned as his mind started thinking up of things he should do with the book, most of his ideas involving a chainsaw, a blender, and more commonly, a flame thrower.

Flipping over the book again, he paused, seeing the title.

"I could just use it as a regular cookbook, but I don't cook."

Fifteen more minutes of debating with himself slipped by, before he finally just went, _screw this, I'll just carry it for a while until I decide whether or not to just toss it in a river._

But, it was probably going to end up as the latter.

Which eventually led to him walking down a particular street, with no actual destination in mind. He wouldn't really need to do anything for the next twenty or so days. For the first five days, Ed recalled, it was just waiting around for Sheska to copy out Doctor Marco's notes. The next ten days was cracking Doctor Marco's ridiculously coded cookbook. And finally, the last five were dedicated to the fifth laboratory, and that oh-so wonderful trip to the hospital. Actually, if Ed had any choice, he would definately have chosen the fifth laboratory over the hospital in a heart beat. The sad thing was that most of that five days was spent in the hospital, while Ed barely spent three hours at the lab. Going back on point, Ed really didn't know why he chose this particular street. Was it for nostalgia? Or-

"Hey!"

Yeah, it was probably for some excitement.

Ed turned his head behind to see his younger self with his brother without the lieutenant or the sergeant for that matter, since they had pretty much ditched them somewhere along the line. He had his hood up, so his younger self still wouldn't be able to put two and two together.

"Oh, it's you again." Ed really was having more fun than he should be on tormenting his younger self. Damn it, Mustang rubbed off on him. "How's life? It's a pity that the library burnt down, isn't it?"

"That was you?!"

"I didn't actually say that, but you're pretty much spot on." Ed side stepped to avoid the red blur the launched himself at him.

"You ****! I'm going to kick your ass!" Oh, if younger could actually see who he was insulting... Now that was a funny thought.

"And they say I pick fights... Yeah, they're probably right." Ed deadpanned quietly to himself. It really was an eye opener to see his younger self since he could now see for himself his own flaws people complained about.

Louder, Ed simply said, "Please don't severly maim yourself." Funny how words could have double meanings. To his younger self, it would seem as if he was warning younger Ed not to fight him, or he'll get severely injured. But to older Ed, it meant exactly how it sounded. Meaning, don't injure your future self please, I've got things to do.

But then again, Ed was fighting his younger self, so they should have the same skills, except for the fact Ed had more experiance, and no automail arm.

... Yeah, younger Ed was going down.

Blocking his younger self's punch, he dropped down and kicked at his younger self's legs, only for him to draw back, before leaping at him with a round house kick aimed for his head, which older Ed ducked under but not before he grabbed his younger self's leg threw him, landing in the dirt with a solid thump. Older Ed groaned as pain shot up his back. Apparently, any injury that he had never sustained in his own timeline, but occurred here, he'd feel it. Not. Good.

"Brother, he has the same moves you do!" Al gasped -not noticing the pain older Ed was in-, obviously stunned at the newest revelation. They had truly thought that no one else knew the same style that their teacher had taught them.

"What?!" Younger Ed yelled from his place on the ground. Older Ed dragged is palm down his face in an exasperated facepalm, sighing deeply. "Look," He began, his eye twitching. He had to end this soon, or it wouldn't turn out pretty for either of them, which wasn't a good thing for obvious reasons. "I can't tell you anything until I've finished my work. It's not safe.

"What does that mean?!"

"Like I said," Edward interrupted, throughly annoying his younger self. "I'll explain once I can, but not now."

He turned to leave, not knowing what his younger self would do, but that was pretty stupid considering they were the same person.

A vein bulged in younger Ed's temple. "Who the hell are you then?! You can tell us that much, right?!"

"Nope!" Ed chipperly announced, a complete contrast to his previous serious demeanor, which left the younger set wondering if Ed was bipolar or something.

But of course, Ed really should have known his younger self wouldn't take that for an answer, since he was like that too.

Clapping his hands together, Ed dashed forward, much to Al' exasperation, catching other Ed off guard. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Hiding your face under a hood?! Show us who you really are!"

The minute Ed's hands touched the hood of the other's coat, it immediately began to deconstruct, showing a flash of gold hair.

 _Gold?_ Ed frowned but before he could see anymore, the other halted the deconstruction with just a clap of his hands. However, the damage was already done, and a flash of gold hair was easily visible from the side which Ed had deconstructed. But, shadows still obscured his face. He cursed, making to take another step.

"Please. Not now. I have to save somebody, and if _they_ find out about me now, I'll have failed to save someone else." The pleading tone in the other's voice made Ed stop short -Not short. NOT SHORT!-. This guy, who could have easily taken him down, was pleading?!

"You hate being left in the dark, I can see that much. I was like that too, until a friend of mine died because I dug too deep." Ed's eyes widened, taking in this new information.

"If you really want to know something that badly, let's just say I'm doing a job for Truth." If Ed had been drinking at the time, he would have no doubt done a spit take. The TRUTH?! Alright then, how was that guy still here?

"I'll tell you everything the next you see me, but only if our next meeting is more than twenty days from now." But even more quietly, Ed whispered. "But then again, you meet me everyday when you look into a mirror."

With those words lingering in the air, older Ed ran off in the opposite direction, leaving wide, staring eyes in his wake.

 **[A/N Alright, you guys can just reach through the screen and slap me, hard, for this shitty excuse of a chapter. I SCREWED UP ED'S CHARACTER! BOTH OF THEM! NOOOOOOO! AND THERE'S SO MANY PLOTHOLES! I'm so dissatisfied with how this chapter turned out. I ruined the scenes! Just lemme go sulk in a corner now...**

 ***Three hours later***

 **Ok, I'm back. I'm willing to bet someone is going to unfollow the story thanks to this piece of *Censored* called a chapter. If anyone posted this kind of chapter, I'd be really disappointed, so I apologize, but I really didn't know how to write this, hence the delay.**

 **And that ending, that was horrible. Gah, I'll probably rewrite this chapter in the future, don't know when but I probably will.**

 **And thanks to the people who reviewed. I'm honored that you guys liked my story, and so therefore, I feel like such a horrible person to give you this sorry excuse of a chapter.**

 **But I promise you the next will be better! I promise it with same power as Naruto's promises!**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	7. Maes Hughes

Waiting twenty days was just, to put it very simply, painful. Reason being, Ed didn't have anything to entertain himself with since he had pretty much read every single book in the library open to public, and since First Branch had burnt down...

Ed groaned, frustrated at how slowly the days were going. Honestly, were they running at snail speed?! Wait, screw that. The speed the days were made a snail look fast!

"Come on...!" Ed whined quietly to himself.

Well, he _could_ have just read Doctor Marco's research, since it technically was a book, but Ed was bored to tears by cooking books, and he hated reading about how the Philosopher's Stone was made.

Glancing to the book once more, Ed picked it up, sighing. "Well, better than doing nothing."

The first five days of waiting could have actually be considered fun, since Ed had to duck into alleyways and go ninja everytime his younger self came by, and run everytime he was spotted.

Next ten days were boring, since his younger self was inside the library decoding Doctor Maro's notes. And Sheska probably was paid quite a huge sum of money, if the yells of _"DID HE MISS A DECIMAL POINT SOMEWHERE?!"_ Were any clue. Call Ed crazy for throwing around his money like that, but the work Sheska did was equivalent to the amount she was paid.

Last five days were painful. Literally. Apparently, when his younger self snuck in to the Fifth Labratory, 48 dealt some extra blows, much to Ed's annoyance, because damn, that hurt! Good thing the pain only lasts for three seconds or so, else Ed would have gone crazy.

During the last five days, he had pretty much moved camp to the bushes near to the phone booth where Mr Hughes was murdered by Envy. That guy had pretty much dug his own grave the last time Ed saw him. Note to self, never cross Mustang like Envy did, or he'll light your sorry butt on fire. Painful, from what Ed had seen.

If Ed recalled correctly, Mr Hughes died when Ed was visiting Teacher, and now that his younger self had been discharged from the **** hospital, he was probably on his way to get his ass kicked. Ed couldn't actually remember the date Hughes was murdered, since no one bothered to tell him, so that's why he would spend his time hanging out near the phone booth.

And so, when Mr Hughes stumbled to the phone booth covered in his own blood, Ed knew that it was time to completely change the timeline. During those painful days of waiting, Ed thought about the Butterfly Effects that his actions would cause. Mr Hughes's death, as much he hated to say it, was essential for all the events that happened thereafter. If Hughes didn't die, Mustang would have never dug into his death since he wasn't dead, which meant the Homunculi wouldn't have framed Maria Ross, which meant Maria Ross wouldn't have her death faked, which meant Mustang would have never gone 'fishing', which also meant that Ed would have never gone to Xerxes, which meant that he would have never met up with his father, and therefore wouldn't have found out about how his human transmutation was impossible, and so on. Talk about complicated timey whimey stuff.

Which would bring Ed to the next question: How was he going to get thing to move along once he saved Mr Hughes?

 _Eh,_ Ed shrugged mentally, seeing 'Maria Ross' who probably was Envy. _I'll figure it out later._

The question about Maria Ross's identity was quickly solved when 'she' pointed a gun at Mr Hughes, removing the safety.

"I need you put down the receiver Lieutenant Colonel." Ed heard 'her' say as he slowly moved forward, hoping to catch Envy by surprise. "Please sir, just hang up."

"You look just like-! But, you're not. Who the hell are you, lady?" Hughes gritted his teeth.

"I'm second Lieutenant Ross, sir. You've lost too much blood." 'Maria' spoke, a smile that definitely that did not look right growing slowly. Yeah, that was no doubt Envy.

"Drop the act already. Second Lieutenant Ross has a mole under her left eye." 'Maria' looked stunned for a moment, before a smirk that was Envy's stretched out across her face. "I see, I can't believe I forgot." Ed had to say, hearing Envy's voice from the lieutenant was pretty disturbing as he reached up and tapped the area where the lieutenant's mole would have been, red lightning flashing as the mole appeared.

"There how do I look now?"

Hughes gasped in surprise, his eyes widening in horror as he leaned against the public phone heavily. "Please tell me this isn't real, please tell me I'm hallucinating or something."

"You really are a smart man, lieutenant Colonel. Did you ever think that was going to be the cause of your death?"

"C'mon," A grim smile etched itself into Hughes's face as he slipped out a knife from his jacket sleeve. "I've got a wife and kid waiting for me back home. And the last thing I'm going to do, is die on them!"

Spinning around prepared to throw out his knife, he stopped dead in his tracks as he came face to face with his dear wife.

"You look surprised!" His 'wife' grinned.

Shaking, Hughes could only say, "What the hell are you?!"

As his 'wife's fingers tightened against the trigger, Hughes knew, that by the time he recovered, it'll be too late. _I'm going to die!_

Death seemed so unrealistic. He could have died during the Ishbal civil war, but he didn't. And now, he was going to die in a time of relative peace. The thought bounced around in his head mockingly, telling him that he would never see his love or his angel ever again. It would take a miracle to save him now. And from what Hughes knew, there was no such thing as miracles.

But apparently, just this once, it did.

Just before the trigger was pushed, the person was kicked back, gun tilting upwards, and while it still fired, at least it didn't hit the intended target. Unfortunately, the roof of the phone booth was made victim. Oh, well. At least there wasn't a mess of crimson to clean up later.

"Made it in time." A familiar voice sighed in relief, Hughes's eyes widening slightly in disbelief. A miracle actually happened?! Well, that was a first.

His savior, was undoubtly the same person who had dropped Nina off at his dorm back in East City.

Looking back at Hughes, he spoke. "The Colonel just answered, so you might want to respond before he gets a heart attack."

As Hughes quickly lifted up the reciever and spoke into it, Ed glared at Envy, not as if said Homunculus could see it though. "Don't you dare Envy. I won't let you kill him."

If Envy was surprised at how Ed knew who he was, he certainly didn't show it as he simply grinned, saying, "So you're the human Lust ran into at the library. You're interfering with our plans, so I'll just get rid of you, before I move to the lieutenant Colonel."

Envy fought dirty, so it was actually kind of easy to figure out what he would do. But it still sucked that Envy could make use of his shape shifting ability to change some parts of his body into weapons, not to mention different, particularly poisonous animals. Oh, for the love of-!

As Ed ducked under an arm-turned-blade, he failed to dodge getting kicked in the face by Envy, and he more or less flew back, crashing onto the sidewalk painfully as he heard something snap. He winced, feeling his ribs. Ouch... They were either bruised, or cracked, and quite frankly, Ed hoped that it was the former.

Scrambling to his feet, he barely managed to dodge a blade that would have taken off his head, and while he did dodge, his hood managed to get torn in the process, revealing his face.

"Shit!" Ed cursed under his breath, but it was too late. The damage was done, and Envy had seen who he was. Oh well, might as well look cool.

"You ruined my coat. I really liked that coat." Ed commented dryly, inspecting the damage done to his coat, and despite the calm image he was portraying, he really was freaking out inside. Oh... This was bad. Envy was probably going to tell Father about this, and then comes a hell lot of trouble Ed really hoped he wouldn't have to go through. One time was bad enough, thank you very much.

Honestly, this was the second time Ed had ever seen Envy look remotely surprised. First time was when his Automail had broken down at the fifth Labratory.

Envy's eyes narrowed sharply. "Huh, I thought it was weird Gluttony said there was someone else like the Fullmetal Pipsqueak, but I didn't think-" Envy was cut off as he dodged a roundhouse kick. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SHORT, YOU BASTARD?! SCREW MY COVER, YOU'RE PAYING FOR THAT!" Ok, maybe Envy didn't insult him directly since he was referring to his younger self, but still, they were the same person!

Ed clapped his hands, slamming them to the ground and transmuted a barrage of stone fists, which slammed into Envy, sending him flying.

Ed clenched his fists, fuming. "YOU DON'T CALL ME SHORT! BE IT 1914 OR 1915, YOU DON'T EVER CALL ME SHORT! AND BESIDES, I GREW! SO DON'T COMPARE ME WITH MY YOUNGER SELF!"

Just as that slipped out, Ed realized his mistake. Ah, crap. He didn't intend for that last bit. You see? This is why Ed tried to reign in his temper during his little time traveling adventure. Some good it did him, having his secrets revealed in front of an enemy no less.

Fortunately, before it could continue any longer, lights from nearby housings started to flick on, hearing the ruckus as well as seeing the bright lights of alchemical transmutations.

Envy cursed. Seeing that his mission failed, there really was no point for him to hang around any longer. Hughes would have already informed Mustang about what he had discovered. And besides... Envy's gaze drifted to Edward. He would need to report this situation to Father. A second Edward Elric running around could prove both disastrous and beneficial to the plan. They would just have to keep a closer eye on him.

With that, Envy ran off into the night, shape shifting into a civilian so as to avoid detection.

LINE BREAK

Hughes really didn't know if he was hallucinating. It felt real, but seemed too unrealistic to be real. First was that Homunculous Ed had told him about. Second, Ed, of all people, appeared and saved his life. Wasn't he supposed to be on a train to Dublith?!

When Mustang answered to phone, Hughes couldn't get a word out. He wanted to, his mouth opened to speak, but no sound came out.

And finally, when that monster left, he finally got a good look at Ed. He looked like at Ed, but at the same time, he didn't. No, Ed looked younger, but this Ed, he looked exactly as how Hughes imagined Ed would look like when he was older.

But... How? None of this seemed to make sense.

With that being his last thought, the night finally took it's toll on him before he passed out, slipping into darkness.

LINE BREAK

Edward wished he could have beaten the crap out of Envy, but there were more important things to tend to. Mainly Hughes, since he was kind of bleeding out at the moment.

Hughes was staring at him with wide eyes behind his glasses, as his hand gripped the telephone reciever in a death grip, his knuckles turning white with the force, before he passed out, most probably from blood loss.

"Crap..." Ed muttered as he reached over and checked Hughes's pulse. It was still steady, which was a good thing. The next thing he did, was gently prying the bloodied telephone reciever from his hand, lifting it up to his ear.

Hearing Mustang's now frantic yells for his friend, Ed spoke, silencing the Colonel. "Hey, Colonel Bastard."

 _"Fullmetal?! What are you doing there?! Where's Hughes?!"_

"Mr Hughes is fine. He just needs to get to a hospital." Ed responded, wishing the Colonel would hurry up and finish, because he really needs to get Mr Hughes to the hospital or something.

 _"Fullmetal, what happened?!"_

"First of all, drop the Fullmetal. I'm not Fullmetal. At least not the one you know. Secondly, Mr Hughes was very nearly murdered, so you might want to drop by Central to get the full story from him. He has something important to tell you."

 _"What-?!"_

Ed didn't give Mustang anytime to finish, before he abruptly hung up on him. Staring at the reciever for a moment more, he lifted his hand off it, looking down at Hughes's unconscious body.

"I guess I should get him to a hospital..."

LINE BREAK

Mustang's hand shakily placed his phone back onto it's holder, his face pale. Hughes was nearly... Murdered?

How could that be? Suddenly, Mustang realized that he could have very well lost an extremely close friend that night. Not Hughes. Anybody but him.

And then... What was Fullmetal doing over there? Why was he there? It made no sense at all. And what was it that Fullmetal had said? _"First of all, drop the Fullmetal. I'm not Fullmetal. At least not the one you know."_

What did he mean by that?! If he wasn't Fullmetal, then who was he?! He sounded exactly identical to Fullmetal. Hell, he had even used the degrading nickname Fullmetal always uses for him. Did Fullmetal have a long lost cousin or twin brother?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Grabbing his military coat, he was preparing to leave, when Hawkeye walked in carrying yet another stack of paperwork, much to Mustang's horror. One thing he'll never understand about paperwork, is that once he completes one stack, two more stacks would have arrived to taunt him.

Hawkeye raised an eyebrow at Mustang, not a single emotion showing on her face. "Sir, aren't you supposed to be working?"

"I have to go to Central, lieutenant. Hughes was almost a victim of murder tonight."

Too anyone else who had been looking, Hawkeye's expression would have been seen as impassive. However, to someone who had known her for as long as Mustang, he could see she that she was clearly worried.

"Very well, Colonel."

With that, Mustang hurriedly left the room, intent on getting onto the first train to Central. He should hurry though, seeing as the next train leaves in about four minutes.

 **[A/N Ok, this chapter was definitely better than my last chapter. Hughes lives! I was actually considering letting Hughes die, to show that Ed can't save everybody, but then I thought about Gracia and Elicia. So I pretty much went, aww, let Hughes live since he has a wide and kid. That, and because I don't want you guys to possibly maul me to death.**

 **So yeah, this chapter is actually where it pretty much diverges more from canon. And by the way, the last chapter was pretty much a spur of the moment kind of thing. I don't actually plan my chapters :). I just think up of the whole story line, but I never bother to fill the gaps until I have to write them. But there are some exceptions, and this chapter is one of them.**

 **Thank you to you all who didn't unfollow or unfavourite me because of that last chapter. Oh yeah, is it me, or are the Reviews sections in all books broken?**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	8. Revealed

Mustang hurriedly made his way to Hughes's hospital room -ignoring the nurses, which showed how much of a rush he was in because he usually flirted with nurses- before slamming the door open -which is extremely out of character for Mustang-, successfully scaring the occupants on the room. Ok, maybe just one person, because the other was currently unconscious.

"What the-?!" The sole conscious individual spluttered in fright, falling off the chair he was occupying because of the sudden shock he had recieved. However, Mustang chose to ignore this for the time being, moving onto a much more important matter -conveniently forgetting that someone who fell off a chair could have recieved damage to the spinal cord or head. Mustang is so heartless to anyone he doesn't know-.

"Hughes!" For the first time since the Ishbal civil war, Mustang really felt worried for his friend, despite Hughes's annoying tendency to phone him while he was working to boast about his daughter or wife, or just to tell him to get married.

"Quit freaking out, Colonel Bastard. Mr Hughes is stable, so stop acting out of character."

For the first ever, Mustang finally got a good look at the second individual. Gold hair and eyes...

"Fullmetal?!"

Said person sighed in exasperation, before getting off the hospital floor and dusting the non existant dirt off himself. Just then, Mustang noticed something very strange. Fullmetal was always right below mid chest in height, but this Fullmetal was nearly as tall as him! "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm not Fullmetal here. There's someone else running around with that name, and I'd like less mistaken identities."

"You're... not Fullmetal?"

"Yes, and no." He replied, before pausing, and bursting into laughter. "Wow, that sounds weird."

By this time, Mustang was staring at him like he was insane, or something across that line.

"Ah, sorry," Ed finished his laughing fit. "I had to let that out."

"But what mean by yes and no?!" Mustang was getting increasingly frustrated by the Fullmetal lookalike, since he was busy talking in such a cryptic fashion.

"To put it very simply," He began smugly, annoying Mustang. "I am Edward Elric, but a completely one from the one you know. In this case, I'm from 1915, day of the solar eclipse."

Five minutes and thirty two seconds. That's how long it took for Mustang to finally register what Ed said. "What?!"

"You heard me. So, I'm technically from the future, and I've got god to thank for sending me here, because quite frankly, it sucks."

A small, sad smile crossed his face. "But then again, I did manage to prevent some deaths, so I guess that's a bonus."

"You prevented deaths? Well then, who was supposed to die?" Mustang probably should be questioning the validity of time travel, but somehow, it seemed right. This Fullmetal had much more defined features, msking him seem much more mature. But, time travel in this case seemed right mainly because Fullmetal in no way should have grown that much in just a matter of weeks!

"Wow, you're accepting that I'm the future rather quickly. And to answer your question, two people who were meant to die, are still alive." Ed replied flippantly, before continuing.

"Nina Tucker was supposed to die, after her father transmuted her with her dog and turned her into a talking chimera. Then, she died after being killed by Scar out of pity, I recall. And secondly, the other person who was meant to die... Well, it was supposed to be Mr Hughes."

Mustang's breath caught in his throat. Maes... Was supposed to die? No, that can't be right!

"I'm not lying." Ed remarked, seeing the look on Mustang's face. "And I also recall you went batshit crazy on his murderer and sent him flying sky high." Ed continued, a deadpan expression settling on his face. "Also, next time, if you ever do that in this timeline which I highly doubt since Mr Hughes is still alive, please don't threaten to burn my hand off, automail or not, because Winry will murder past me, and I'll have to get automail. And quite frankly, I don't want to endure automail surgery a second time."

"You don't have automail anymore?" Mustang asked, ignoring Ed's last remark about him threatening to burn his hand off. If Ed didn't have automail anymore, that would mean that he had succeeded in his resigning his and Al's bodies, right? Well, Fullmetal is going to be pleased.

"Sure I don't. Well, for the arm, at least." Ed replied, pulling off the glove for his right hand, revealing a hand, a real flesh and blood hand. "However," Ed tapped his left leg, a metallic sound echoing. "My leg is still automail, though."

Mustang frowned at this. "What about Alphonse?"

Ed's eyes darkened. "Why do you think I'm here? Sightseeing? I'm doing a favour for the Truth, and he'll give me back Al after I'm done."

Suddenly, Ed blinked in realization. "Woah, I just realized I managed to talk to you civilly without you throwing short jokes. That's a first."

Mustang smirked. "Just this once, shrimp."

Of course, this recieved the desired effect, which basically meant Mt Elric erupted. "WHAT?! WHO YOU CALLIN' A MICROSIZED SHRIMP, YOU BASTARD WITH A GOD COMPLEX?! I'M NEARLY AS TALL AS YOU!"

"You'll always be a shrimp as long as you're shorter than me."

"GAH!"

Very funny, how they could act civilized one moment, and the next act like small, bickering children. Well, Edward at least.

Just then, Hughes groaned, alerting the other two of his awakening. "Hughes!" Mustang rushed over to Hughes bedside, to see a pair of green eyes staring back up at him.

"Roy?" Hughes groaned. "You're here? Oh, good. Please tell me everything that happened yesterday was just a hallucination. Because I'm sure I hallucinated the homunculus Ed was telling me about. I'm pretty sure I saw Ed too..."

"Hughes, I hate to break it to you, but you weren't hallucinating."

Hughes blinked at him, just before Ed piped up. "Well, I feel real, so I'm pretty sure that I'm not a figment of your imagination, Mr Hughes."

"Ed?" Hughes fumbled with his glasses. "Weren't you on a train to Dublith?"

"I think you're referring to my younger self, because I've already done that, and came back." Ed deadpanned, knowing that he was in for a looooong explanation about his existence.

"Wha-?"

"Hughes," Mustang interrupted his friend. "I don't understand it either, but the Fullmetal you're talking to, he's from the future. Hey, don't give me that look!"

Hughes looked at Mustang like he was crazy. "Roy," Hughes began slowly. "How many glasses of alcohol have you had?"

As Mustang spluttered incoherently at his friend's blatant accusation about his drinking habits, Edward decided to be nice -for once- and help out the poor Colonel who had yet to from even a relatively coherent sentence. "It is the truth, though." Ed calmly said. "Because I do know for a fact that you were supposed to be murdered by Envy yesterday after he shapeshifted into Ms Gracia and shot you."

"What do you mean by-?"

"I'm not finished." Ed interrupted, before continuing. "You were murdered because you found out something they didn't want you to find out. The transmutation circle on Amestris, am I correct? No one did tell me what you found out, so I'm going to go ahead and guess that's what you found out." Ed finished, leaving the other two man gaping at him.

Hughes blinked. Mustang blinked. "Yes! Finally, I managed to make Colonel Bastard utterly speechless! Havoc now owes me six hundred cenz!" Ed cheered, leaving the two men to ponder about his sanity, if he even had any in the first place. Buy really though, sanity is overrated.

"Fullmetal, you have officially gone insane." Mustang deadpanned, his eye twitching.

Ed shrugged uncaringly. "Eh, seeing the country go into a day long civil war, followed by the entire population of Amestris which was about fifty million people I recall, being sacrificed to create a Philosopher's Stone does that to you, as well as being tossed into the past, barely half an hour later. And quit calling me Fullmetal. I don't hold any claim to that name while I'm stuck in 1914."

There was a rather long stretch of awkward silence, before:

"Full- Edward, you have some explaining to do."

"Why do you think I'm here, Colonel Bastard?" Ed grinned demonically. Oh... This was going to be fun.

LINE BREAK

Father had lived for four hundred years, caused the downfall on an entire country, currently planning the destruction of another, and yet he had never encountered such a situation before.

Time traveling.

The idea seemed completely ludicrous, but the proof was there, all right. Apparently, it was the older Elric brother who had been the one to time travel from his time, into the past, as it had seemed to Envy.

Recently, he had been receiving reports about a individual running about the country, and messing around. Father hadn't thought much about it, until Lust and Gluttony came back to report after supposedly disposing of that Ishbalan serial killer.

Apparently, while searching for the notes of the Philosopher's Stone, they had come across the same individual from before, who was more than likely searching for the sane thing. The end result was the library burning down, but Lust had mentioned Gluttony had said that the individual had smelled like Fullmetal.

And then, little more than half a month later, Envy comes back after having failed in his mission, describing it as 'having it foiled by the Fullmetal Pipsqueak who should have been on a train to somewhere else'. From what it had sounded like, it had seemed that Fullmetal had either hit a growth spurt -which Father highly doubted- or somehow had a older self running about. Funny, how the latter had seemed much more appealing.

However, never had he expected this new individual threatening to stop his plans to be Fullmetal. It certainly threw a wrench into his previous plans on disposing of him. After all, both Fullmetals were the same, and both had opened the gate, which therefore made them both suitable sacrifices for the Promised Day.

But, there was only one thing he worried about. If Fullmetal traveled to the past to change the events that occurred in the future, Father could only assume that he had succeeded in his plans, but Fullmetal, being the rebellious child he was, must have decided to change the future, therefore thwarting his plans. But, what if Father, by bringing in someone from the future into his plans, brought on his own destruction?

However, he did not give this much concern, placing another pawn on his table. He smiled. If Fullmetal wanted to change the future, let him. After all, one must pay a steep price, for trying to play god, right?

 **[A/N Ok, maybe this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but it somehow felt right to end there.**

 **Hm, maybe now I should go focus on my other stories now, since I've been feeling a little guilty for not updating as frequently as I should. Only problem is that I've got a writer's block for both of them.**

 **Now I'm going to do a bit of shameless advertising, so if you don't shameless advertising, feel free to skip this bit. For anyone who enjoys FMA and Naruto stories, I've got one sitting in my profile. Same to anyone who enjoys FMA school AUs.**

 **Well anyway, thanks for reading this chapter and I hope enjoyed this. And someone please give me ideas for crazy school happenings! I usually ask ny brother, but the only one he as currently is one where some moron burnt down a water tank. Which had water in it. Will someone tell me the logic in that?**

 **~ Gwntan12]**


	9. Author's Note

Heey, followers of Turning back the Clock! I have an announcement to make! I recently read through the story again, and I've decided some parts were not up to standard. So, I'll be deleting some chapters and then I'll be replacing them with better ones!

I'm so sorry if you thought this was a new chapter, but really, I realised that with what I wrote, I don't know how to continue from there. That's why I'm tweaking the storyline to fit what I've thought of. For example, I revealed Edward's identify to early. I shouldn't have done that.

Well, yeah. At least I'm not discontinuing this.

~ Gwntan12


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